Heart on Fire (Kingmaker Chronicles #3)

“Calm yourself,” he grates in my ear, his implacable grip immobilizing me.


“But he just condemned Selena!” She might frustrate the magic out of me sometimes with her vagueness and secrecy, but I love her. I rely on her. She gave me shelter and a home. And now she’ll be gone!

I buck and growl, twisting furiously in Griffin’s steely arms. Lightning cracks, and thunder echoes back at me.

“Think of little Eleni.” The stubble on Griffin’s jaw scratches my temple as he curls me inward against him, squeezing. “And remember, it’s not Piers who decides. There are no good choices here. And don’t prove him right by turning into exactly what he thinks you are.”

He thinks I’m a vicious killer. Who enjoys it.

Like the quick, startling sting of a whip, shame lashes me. I stop thrashing. Griffin is right. I shouldn’t have attacked Piers. I should have been more mindful of Eleni.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch Kaia’s terrified gaze. She’s looking at me like you do when you come across something both so dreadful and so astonishing that you don’t know whether to watch in fascination or to run for your life.

That’s me—dreadful and fascinating. What a mix.

Lightning abruptly stops leaping from my body, settling roughly back into whatever mostly inaccessible well it resides in.

“She wouldn’t be half as belligerent if she’d grown up with me.” Selena crosses her arms, apparently wholly unconcerned by her potential impending doom.

Ares scowls. “She wouldn’t be half as alive if she’d grown up with you.”

“I beg to differ,” Selena responds coolly.

“Beg all you want. I’m still right.”

“I’m very effective.”

“You make rainbows and heal people.”

“You make war and kill people.”

“I taught her well.” Pride gleams in Ares’s eyes. “She just brought down a man a head taller than she is and twice as heavy without even trying.”

Selena scoffs. “Her exceptional reflexes are hardly your doing.”

“Or yours,” Ares says with narrowed eyes.

I’m not sure what they mean by that, but I glance at Piers, not proud of myself. To Griffin, I say, “You can let me go now.”

Griffin’s arms drop away, but he dips his dark head toward mine and rumbles, “I don’t blame you for protecting the people you love.” His words absolve me to a certain extent, and the stony expression he turns on Piers would make any man quake.

Piers pushes himself up from the ground. His nose is out of alignment. There’s blood everywhere and a raw scrape down his jaw. He spits out crimson saliva and then shoves his nose back into place. Mostly. And with barely a wince. He doesn’t look entirely steady, but he doesn’t look like he’s about to fall down, either. Maybe I should have hit him harder.

Training his eyes on Ares, Piers flicks his bloodstained fingers toward Selena. “I called you, and I say she should go.”

I shake my head, my lip curling in disdain at how easily he throws people away. There’s also no doubt in my mind that if it weren’t for the baby, he’d still wish it were me.

Great. Even in a family where I thought I was finally safe and welcome, there’s a brother to stab me in the back. Disappointed as I am, far worse than stabbing me in the back is the fact that Piers has just cut out Griffin’s heart and placed both my husband and Kaia in grave danger.

Ares’s huge hands land hard on his hips. He shakes his head. “He really is an idiot. I can’t take Persephone.”

There’s a single beat of my heart, a breath, before I understand what Ares just said. My eyes widen, and I turn to look at Selena so fast I nearly fall down. I leave my jaw somewhere on the ground behind me. “Persephone?”

“Finally.” With a deep breath, Selena lifts her hands and tilts her head back, as if offering praise to Olympus. “Really, Cat. You should have figured that out.”

“I should… I-I…” I gape at her, my heart pounding like a thousand feet marching into the unknown. The rest of me goes numb with shock. Even Little Bean seems stunned. Well, she doesn’t react, anyway. Maybe she already knew? “But Persephone has to spend six months of the year in the Underworld.”

Selena raises perfect blonde eyebrows, her expression turning incredulous. “But I do.”

“But…but…you…” I shut up. I’m incoherent at this point.

Selena—Persephone—takes pity on me at last. “It’s a common misconception that they have to be six consecutive months. I have half a dozen worlds in which to start the springtime. I can’t do them all at once. They’re staggered. Besides…” She leans in, adding, “You can’t possibly think I’d share Hades with another female.”

I blink. No. I’ve always had trouble imagining that.

Before our eyes, Selena sheds whatever magic was making her look human all this time. She’s still her, with delicate features; high, arching brows; startling blue eyes; thick, silky hair; and obvious innate power. But now she’s more. Just like Thanos, she’s taller, stronger, and even more awe-inspiring in every way.

She rolls her shoulders and moves her neck from side to side, as if adjusting to her new dimensions. “Ah. Better.” The Goddess spears Piers with an irate look. “Cat has a clear destiny here in Thalyria. Ares can’t take her, and not only because of the two-souls thing. And despite his faults, I doubt Ares is interested in ripping her husband from her. So, not only did you betray your brother in the worst possible way, but you’ve doomed your little sister to a lifetime with him.” She jerks her head toward Ares, her dislike as clear as the crystalline waters off the Fisan coast.

Kaia’s sharp, frightened inhale yanks out my heart and sends it spiraling into the pit of my stomach. I should have been nicer to Piers, or at least tried to get along. If I had, Kaia wouldn’t be paying the price right now.

“No.” My palm up, I reach out to Ares, beseeching. “Please.”

The God of War looks Kaia over, assessing her. Kaia pales even more under his scrutiny and inches closer to Griffin.

Griffin’s eyes flare with panic, and he angles his body to better shield his sister. Piers’s face mirrors Griffin’s horrified expression. Stepping toward her, Piers reaches for Kaia, his hand still covered in his own blood.

“No!” Kaia avoids him with a slippery twist, sliding between Griffin and me. In her colorless face, her own eyes blaze with fear and hurt. Still a pace away, Piers pulls up short, looking like he’s been kicked in the heart.

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